-------------------------Gulf's POV------------------------
I slowly opened my heavy eye lids feeling so exhausted, the view was a bit blurry at first yet I slowly focused until I recognized that I wasn't in my room, I closed my eyes again trying to recall what happened yesterday, the last thing I remember was when I started feeling a little unwell so I went to sleep early, I vaguely recall hearing Nin's sobs and Mew's voice but nothing else, I glanced to my right to find Nit sleeping and I knew immediately that smth must have happened and we are in the hospital
"uncle Gulf!" Nin yelled right after coming into the room, she ran toward me and held my hand, she was jumping wanting to climb and hug me
"Nin, I'm sorry for worrying you, I'm fine now" I said weakly reaching and patting on her head, Mew came following after her with a small smile staring at me
"Nin was shocked and cried a lot yesterday, I'm glad you are getting better"
"what happened?"
"it seem you and Nit got some kind of an infection from the forest you entered"
"how is Nit, what did the doctor say?" I asked looking so worried to my nephew who was still asleep as I slowly sat up
"both of you are fine, the doctor injected you with the medicine already, you will still feeling weak and exhausted for a few days but nothing serious" I was relieved
"thank you P' Mew, not only you helped me and Nit but you also took care of Nin"
"you should thank Nin, she was the one who noticed that you both were feeling unwell and even told me to call a doctor when I was freaking out" I smiled looking to my niece
"thank you Nin, you are a hero!" she cutely smiled
"I'm happy uncle Gulf is fine but my brother..."
"don't worry, he will wake up soon" Mew said sitting on the chair next to me
"for how long we've been sleeping?"
"over 12 hours, it's past 3 pm now, me and Nin went to eat lunch just a while ago"
"I'm really grateful to you P' Mew"
"you are helping me to cure my phobia so we are even, btw, I called Mild, he will visit you a little later since he couldn't skip work"
"you didn't by chance contacted my grandparents right?"
"of course not, first of all, I can't access your phone and secondly, you know I'm not good with people"
"I guess it's already amazing that you called Mild" I giggled a little
"Nit!" I heard Nin's voice as we all turned staring at Nit, he slowly woke up
"Nin... uncle Gulf..." he weakly said glancing to me, I tried to stand up yet my legs gave out and I fell back, Mew jumped and went next to him
"how are you feeling?"
"my body very heavy... thirsty" I was stunned when I saw Mew helping Nit to sit up a little and helped him drinking water
"P' Mew! Your phobia!"
"oh, it seem it's fine when I'm touching little children, their innocence makes me feel relaxed around them, it's all thanks to Nin I discovered this" he smiled looking really happy about this, I smiled back, I'm so glad that he at least can have some skinship with kids without getting sick
"I will go get the doctor" Mew went out and soon came back soon after
"oh Gulf, I'm so glad you are fine, I was really worried when you first came in"
"I'm sorry for worrying you Dr. Dara and thank you for treating us" she started by checking on Nit then me
"the high fever and the bacteria had its troll on your bodies, you will be feeling sluggish and tired, maybe some headache or even nausea but you will be fine, I already prepared the medicine for both of you that you must take for the next three days, well, you can leave but make sure to rest well at home for the rest of the week"
"thank you doctor, sorry for bothering you, you already had to take care of my..." I went silent since I didn't want to say anything in front of the twins, the doctor smiled
"please, I'm not doing anything to help them, all I can do is run some test and keep watching them, it's my duty to take care of you, anyway, I will give the pills you must take to your husband, if you felt pain or feverish again make sure to call me"
"yes, thank yo- huh? Wait, husband? Whose?"
"yours of course, don't be shy, I already know about it, oh I need to go, take care of yourselves..." she said smiling and walking out, I blinked looking to Mew
"what happened?" he sighed
"she misunderstood and thought we are married and Nin and Nit are our children, I tried to explain many times but she never listened"
"why would she think that?"
"you tell me, I did nothing to make her think that" normally, people will think we are friends or cousins or relatives but not husbands, I wonder why did she see us like that? Do we really look like a family?
"I will take Nit and Nin to the car first, a nurse will come and help you"
"thanks" he held Nit up and walked out with Nin holding into his pants, now that I saw him like that, he does look like a father being so gentle with the kids, I'm so delighted to see that he has no problem touching the children, actually when he truthfully told me about his phobia, I was shocked for a moment, he must have went through a traumatizing experience to end up with this sickness
I searched about it and I found out that he could have a panic attack, nausea, hyperventilation or even faint at most cases, it's fascinating that he managed to live with this phobia but it's very since it drove him into a corner far from people, living alone with no human contact, I'm sure he even hate himself for getting this sickness that even deprive him from his family's warmth, I feel so ashamed after thinking that I was the most one who got hurt but obviously some people have it worst
I was taken all the way to the car by a wheelchair since I still couldn't stand up, Nin was sitting in the backseat with Nit laying down on her lap, Mew opened the door and looked hesitant in helping me to stand up and get into the car
"it's fine, don't force yourself, more like it's better if you don't touch me, I don't want you to get sick because of me" I said slowly holding unto the car's door and forcing my body to jump from the wheelchair to the car seat, it was extremely hard but I managed, I glanced to Mew who was looking apologetic and depressed
"please don't look at me like that, it's fine! One day you will be able to help me and touch me as much as you want" Mew smiled
"thank you, I hope that day come sooner" he said and started driving, luckily, Mild caught up and helped me to go to the apt and lay in my room
"I got so shocked when P' Mew called me, it's dangerous to go to that forest even for us so please be more careful next time Gulf!" he said looking very worried
"I will, and I'm sure Nit learned his lesson" I glanced to Nit who was sleeping with me
"I will never go to the forest again!" he said making us giggle
"do you need anything? Let me help you with washing up and changing your clothes"
"you don't have to, you are already tired from work besides I'm feeling a lot better"
"are you sure?"
"yes really, sorry for worrying you"
"we are a family, next time if you feel even a tiny bit unwell call me right away"
"I promise I will"
"well I will be leaving, oh, I went and bought you everything you may need to cook a meal"
"thank you Mild, I will cook for them" Mew said coming inside my room
"it's the least I can do, thank you for calling me, please take care of my brother"
"I will" not long after Mild left and Mew cooked us a healthy light meal to drink our medicine, Nin helped him and it was funny hearing them from the kitchen
"I will help the twins wash up"
"thanks" P' Mew was very kind and caring, seeing this new side to him made me so amazed, he is a completely different person from the one I first met as if he was reborn with the hope of getting cured, I also managed to take a quick shower and Mew helped with the laundry
"we are so sorry for troubling you, you already have so much work yet you are taking care of us, we ended up becoming a bother to you"
"not at all, stop apologizing, I'm really enjoying myself, knowing that I can actually help someone and having the chance to take care of you makes me overjoyed, I've never been able to do this before so I'm grateful for you, of course, I do want you to always be healthy but please let me be of some help, it makes me feel good about myself"
"you really changed P' Mew, you've become a great person, I never would have imagined that you will turn out to be so kind and caring"
"just be prepared you still don't know anything about me"
"I'm ready to meet the new you" few days passed and me and Nit were getting so much better, we did a final checkup before returning to our usual daily life, I had so much work to catch up with, meanwhile, Mew offered to help cooking and picking up the twins since he was waiting for me to finish my part before our next meeting
The atmosphere around the house became so much brighter and warmer, I always find myself smiling whenever I see Mew playing with the twins and chopper, Mew started smiling and laughing more, I could tell that he was enjoying himself and was feeling better
"Gulf, there is smth I must confess, I accidently discovered about your sister and her husband" he said one night after sending the kids to sleep
"you don't have to feel guilty, it's not I was hiding the truth for anyone except for the twins, I don't want them to see their parents sleeping like that without any movement"
"was the accident so bad?"
"very terrible, it's already a miracle they didn't die, it was a big shock we had one year ago, even my parents were going to give up on the chance of going to America and my little sister skipped university for almost two weeks, my older sister is so cheerful and always made everyone laugh and smile, we all loved her so much as well as her great husband"
"I'm sure they are fighting and doing their best to wake up soon, they will surely wake up and come back to you and your family"
"all I want is to see them reunited with their children"
"they will soon, so that's why you came back to Thailand"
"not really... I went through a terrible breakup and I was so depressed that's why my family encouraged me to get away from Japan and come back to my home country"
"did your lover betray you?" Mew asked looking curious, it was a new interesting side of him, he never asked a thing before and somehow I find myself answering all his questions honestly
"yes, I spotted my boyfriend walking with another man and he confessed at that moment that he never truly loved me and that the man with him was his true love... I was so hurt since I did love him but it's all in the past now" Mew stared at me speechless for a while
"bo-boyfriend?" he asked stuttering
"yes, I'm gay, ah, I'm sorry for hiding this, you must be so shocked and disgusted by me now, I was only focused on taking care of the kids and work , I should have told you earlier"
"well, yeah, I'm shocked but I'm not disgusted, you are free to love whoever you want, besides there is many gay couple nowadays so it became so normal"
"I didn't expect that from you, you are surprising open-minded"
"what do you mean by surprisingly, I've always been like this, anyway, I'm sure you will find someone better one day"
"maybe but for now I want to only focus on the hotel project and the kids"
"I understand, thank you for being honest with me"
"for some reason I always find myself being honest with you"
"that works perfectly for me" we both giggled enjoying our small conversation
We I first met Mew, I never thought that we will be getting along this well, I find myself feeling relaxed around him, he even offered to come with me to visit my sister a few times, except for the touching thing, we really became good friends, it's really rare to find someone you can enjoy his company which makes me wish that I could continue living with him even after sending the twins back to my sister after she wakes up
I wish we could become closer...
-------------------------Mew's POV------------------------
I want to touch Gulf, I want to get closer to him, the urge to do this and my phobia keep fighting inside of me and it's driving me crazy... I'm getting impatient about getting cured, I don't know why I'm becoming and thinking like this but that's the only thing I'm focused on this days
I really want to touch Gulf...